Whale experts hope to verify sightings off Daytona Beach Shores

Wednesday

Mar 26, 2014 at 8:14 PMMar 26, 2014 at 10:40 PM

By DINAH VOYLES PULVERdinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

A right whale mother and calf that lingered along the New Smyrna Beach shoreline for more than 10 hours Tuesday kept a lower profile Wednesday. No whale sightings were reported in the area at all, said Julie Albert, who monitors the Marine Resources Council’s right whale hotline. However, experts hope to hear from people regarding a separate set of whale sightings reported Tuesday in Daytona Beach Shores. Those calls to the hotline couldn’t be verified and Albert said she and others are hoping anyone who may have taken photos of those whales would share them by calling the hotline at 888-979-4253 (97-WHALE).Scientists estimate the population of right whales in the North Atlantic at about 500. A group of right whales migrate to the Florida and Georgia coasts each winter for calving season from their summer grounds off the coasts of Canada and New England. The whales seen in New Smyrna Tuesday were a 9-year-old right whale and her first calf, one of only 10 born this winter. The whales drifted slowly north between Bethune Beach and New Smyrna Beach from 10 a.m. until dark.